Politics from the Pulpit: Three Reasons for Increased Political Engagement from Pastors

The Line between Keller and Kirk The heartbreaking violence in Minnesota is expanding with little evidence that it will soon decrease. It is only one example of the explosive political divisions happening right now in the United States. Such intense division leads to tension among Christians about how to address political issues.  Many believers look at the desperation in our culture and demand increased Christian engagement to try and stem the troubling tide. Other believers observe the same cultural desperation and believe that a focus on political matters weakens our most potent weapon for societal transformation, namely, the proclamation that Jesus has died and risen to save sinners.  This disagreement is not new. It is one that existed between two Christian men who are both now in heaven: Tim Keller and Charlie Kirk. The two men had nearly opposite dispositions regarding political engagement. Tim Keller was a minister of the gospel known for his reluctance to address political issues in order to avoid distractions from his proclamation of Jesus Christ. Charlie Kirk was a political activist who insisted on proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the public square believing such proclamation was the only hope for America. Like Keller, I have given my life to the ministry of the Lord Jesus and have no interest in a vocational pursuit of politics. But, like Kirk, I believe Christians must speak into the pressing political issues of our day, and that avoiding them is to fail in our calling as gospel preachers. Here are three reasons why pastors must increase our political engagement in these days of cultural division.  Proclaiming Christ Requires Application The calling of gospel ministers is to preach the good news of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 9:16, the Apostle Paul said, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” Obviously, pastors who do not preach the gospel have no business in ministry at all. And yet, we need to say more. The work of Jesus to save sinners is a historical reality that demands declaration and a theological reality that demands conviction. But the work of Jesus is also an ethical reality that demands application. Preachers of the gospel cannot unpack the historical and theological elements of the work of Jesus and ignore the practical applications of what he has done.  Jesus calls his people to walk out their Christianity in practical issues of life. Ephesians 4:1 says Christians must “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have received.” Pastors committed to preaching Jesus must apply the work of Christ as clearly on political issues as on any other realm of life. In a politically charged atmosphere like ours, this mandate is misunderstood by many.  A few years ago, a measure was on the ballot in my home state of Florida to outlaw abortion. On the Sunday before the election, I encouraged the members of First Baptist Church to vote for the very important initiative. After the announcement, I learned that a married couple who had been visiting our church for months left the service, promising never to return. They thought myappeal to vote for an anti-abortion amendment was inappropriate. They said they didn’t want to come to a church where the pastor “preached politics.” This couple misunderstood my calling as a preacher and, therefore, misunderstood what I did that day. In fact, I was not preaching politics. I was just preaching. I took a stand for God, who creates life, who loves life, and who calls his people to defend life. The issue of life has obvious political implications, but it is primarily a spiritual issue that transcends politics. God addressed it authoritatively in the pages of Scripture long before it got confused by political debates in contemporary American society. Pastors have no option to avoid preaching biblical truth because those issues are matters of controversy in contemporary debates. The opposite is true. The call to be faithful preachers requires us to apply the Word of God and the Work of Christ to political issues.  That leads to the second reason for increased pastoral engagement on politics.  Political Chaos Requires Divine Truth Everyone knows that American society is in trouble. Christians know why. The diagnosis of the problem comes in the clear teaching of Proverbs 14:31, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” The reason our society is in a mess is because our culture embracessin and calls it righteousness. We embrace foolishness and call it wisdom. We embrace error andvice and call them truth and virtue. Just one example of this is the widespread cultural confusion on gender, sexuality, and marriage. Loud voices pronounce that people of the same gender can be married, and, alternatively, that individuals have the power to choose the gender they want to be. Faithful preachers know a few important things about this effort.  They know, first of all, that these positions are insane from the standpoint of Scripture. They also know that the same corrupt voices who advocate these positions are committed to using the political process to normalize and institutionalize their corruption. Most importantly, faithful preachers know they must proclaim with bold conviction and broken hearts the truth that a culture at war with God’s Word will be visited by God’s wrath. Such proclamation is not the least bit controversial from the standpoint of Scripture. Isaiah preached that God would soon execute his anger against Babylon (Isaiah 13:1-3). Ezekiel preached to Egypt that God was opposed to them because of their sin (Ezekiel 29:1-3). Jonah preached to the Assyrians that Ninevah would be destroyed for their unrighteousness (Jonah 3:5). Jesus Christ proclaimed “Woe” over Chorazin and Bethsaida because of their rejection of him as Messiah (Matthew 11:21-24). Literally hundreds of other examples exist.  In Ezekiel 3:17-18, God said, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.” Gospel preachers are alive in a day when our culture is publicly celebrating sin in ways unheard of since the dawn of time. Preaching Christ in this environment requires honesty about our corporate sins that make the redemption of Jesus necessary. If preachers of the gospel do not say this to our society, no one will. God’s word to Ezekiel reminds every preacher that a refusal to be honest about God’s judgment on our culture will lead to God’s judgment on us.  Ignoring Politics Leads Nowhere Good At the end of the day, there are only three logical options available to Christians regarding political engagement. We could ignore politics, we could address political issues incorrectly, or we could engage them faithfully. When you think about it like that, there is only one real path for Christians to take.  Consider the current unrest in Minneapolis. Everyone in our society is talking about the issues of illegal immigration, the ethics of protest, the rules of engagement for the use of deadly force, the nature of the relationship between federal and local governments, and many other issues. If preachers try to avoid these crucial topics, the net result will be that God’s voice in Scripture will be the only voice not heard on these crucial matters. Such silence will make things worse and is not an option available to Christians. Once preachers decide to engage these issues, they obviously must avoid addressing them incorrectly. That means preachers must do the hard work of seeking carefully to understand the issues in our culture and then working vigilantly to understand the way God addresses them in his Word. This will be tricky and delicate work. But our calling to preach Christ requires us to acknowledge that Jesus is not only the world’s exclusive Savior, but also the world’s supreme King. As King, he has a mind on our society’s political discourse, and he has revealed everything he wants us to know about that in his Word. Our calling as preachers requires us to do our part to ensure that God’s people know God’s mind on the pressing political issues of our day.   Obligation Not Obsession Our calling to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ is precisely what obligates us to engage politics with Christian truth. That same call to preach Christ will encourage us to pursue much wisdom as we address those issues. Faithful preachers will exert tremendous care to avoid sharing mere opinions that are not informed by the Word of God, to apply caution before becoming overly dogmatic on less-clear areas where faithful Christians disagree, and to avoid a preoccupation with politics that prioritizes it above all matters of Christian living. But just as ministers of the gospel seek to apply the good news of Jesus to every issue in a fallen world—to parenting, money, work, and everything else—so we also must apply the message of Jesus to politics.  Christians who embrace the message that we must be silent on political issues in order topreserve our witness are in perfect error. This error requires repentance. In a society at the precipice of destruction, Christians are the only ones able to make the mind of Christ known.That is work that they must urgently accomplish.